{
  "id": "2015-02-05-university-of-south-carolina-fayad-shooting",
  "slug": "university-of-south-carolina-fayad-shooting-2015-02-05",
  "institution": {
    "name": "University of South Carolina",
    "shortName": "USC",
    "state": "SC",
    "type": "public-r1",
    "alertSystemName": "Carolina Alert",
    "enrollment": 33000
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2015-02-05",
    "type": "domestic-violence",
    "cleryCategory": "emergency-notification",
    "headline": "Ten Minutes Behind a Locked Office Door: An Ex-Wife's Murder-Suicide of a USC Public Health Professor",
    "summary": "[Raja Fayad, 45, an associate professor in USC's Arnold School of Public Health, was shot and killed](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/raja-fayad-professor-university-south-carolina-shooting_n_6632640.html) in a fourth-floor lab office on February 5, 2015, by his ex-wife, [Sunghee Kwon, 46, with whom he had continued living after their divorce](https://wach.com/news/local/coroner-shooter-in-murder-of-dr-fayad-was-his-ex-wife); Kwon then turned the gun on herself. A Carolina Alert sent shortly after 1:20 p.m. locked down the surrounding block for roughly an hour before police confirmed the threat was over.",
    "resolution": "confirmed-threat",
    "outcome": "Dr. Raja Fayad died of multiple gunshot wounds. Sunghee Kwon died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen. University police had been contacted at least twice in the weeks before the shooting about Kwon's presence in Fayad's classroom and lab, though officers were not told the two had once been married.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 1,
      "injured": 0
    }
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestampApprox": "Approximately 1:20 PM EST on February 5, 2015",
      "channel": "sms",
      "verbatimText": "Carolina Alert: An active shooter has been reported on the University of South Carolina campus at the Arnold School of Public Health on Assembly Street near College Street. Stay indoors until further notice.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceDescription": "Reconstructed from WSLS and ABC News 4 Charleston coverage describing the Carolina Alert text sent to students and the Carolina Alert Facebook archive",
      "annotations": [
        "Sent as gunfire was reported inside the Arnold School of Public Health building, this was a real-time shelter order rather than a post-hoc notification, consistent with the active, unresolved nature of the threat at the moment it was issued",
        "The alert's 'active shooter' framing reflected what officers knew in the first minutes: shots fired inside an occupied academic building, with the shooter's identity, motive, and relationship to the victim still unknown",
        "Carolina Alert lifted the notice roughly an hour later after officers determined the shooter and victim were the only two people in the room and there was no continuing threat to the wider campus"
      ],
      "characterCount": 207
    },
    {
      "sequence": 2,
      "type": "follow-up",
      "timestampApprox": "Friday, February 6, 2015, the day after the shooting",
      "channel": "website",
      "verbatimText": "We now know the tragedy resulted from a domestic dispute. Domestic violence is, of course, a plague on our society and has shaken our university family yet again this year. We join in a call to increase awareness and action. Be assured that the University of South Carolina will continue to work for justice to mitigate this plague.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": true,
      "sourceUrl": "https://coladaily.com/2015/02/07/usc-president-harris-pastides-calls-for-domestic-violence-prevention-in-wake-of-shooting",
      "sourceDescription": "Written statement by USC President Harris Pastides, quoted by Columbia's Free Times/Cola Daily",
      "annotations": [
        "Pastides's statement was the university's first public confirmation that the shooting was a domestic-violence murder-suicide rather than a random attack, reframing a case initially reported under 'active shooter' language",
        "The reference to the university family being 'shaken again this year' alluded to a separate fatal domestic-violence incident involving a USC-connected individual earlier in the same academic year",
        "Fayad and Kwon had divorced but continued cohabiting; that ambiguous marital status is why this archive classifies the case as domestic violence rather than dating violence, consistent with Clery's inclusion of former spouses and cohabitants under domestic violence"
      ],
      "characterCount": 332
    }
  ],
  "context": "Dr. Raja Fayad, an associate professor of biological sciences in USC's [Arnold School of Public Health](https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/update-ex-wife-kills-professor-in-university-of-sc-murder-suicide/article_3e008ef7-627d-51b7-a80b-3386700aabd8.html) and a well-liked mentor to graduate students, was shot multiple times in a fourth-floor lab office on the USC-Columbia campus shortly before 1:20 p.m. on February 5, 2015. A Carolina Alert [locked down the block around Assembly and College streets](https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/usc-issues-alert-for-report-of-active-shooter-near-thomas-cooper-library/101-d7a5c7f8-bac5-4af4-bf72-6e98ce937a16) for roughly an hour while officers searched the building. Investigators soon determined the shooter was [Sunghee Kwon, 46, Fayad's ex-wife](https://wach.com/news/local/coroner-shooter-in-murder-of-dr-fayad-was-his-ex-wife), who had continued living with him after their divorce and had recently been in conflict with him over her application to a doctoral program he was affiliated with. University police had been called to Fayad's lab and classroom at least twice in the weeks before the shooting over Kwon's presence, but officers were never told the two had once been married. Kwon died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; a graduate student outside the office [heard nothing for roughly ten minutes](https://www.wistv.com/story/28037026/sled-two-in-usc-murder-suicide-were-in-long-term-relationship/) before hearing shots and smelling gunpowder. USC President Harris Pastides publicly named the killing a domestic-violence tragedy the following day and called for increased campus awareness of intimate-partner violence.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "University police had at least two prior contacts with Kwon about her presence in Fayad's classroom and lab in the weeks before the shooting but were never told the two had a marital history, a gap that limited the department's threat assessment",
    "The initial Carolina Alert used 'active shooter' language because officers did not yet know the shooting was a targeted domestic-violence murder-suicide involving only two people in a locked office",
    "USC's president publicly reframed the incident as domestic violence within 24 hours, a relatively fast institutional acknowledgment for a campus shooting of this era",
    "Because Fayad and Kwon were divorced but still cohabiting, the case sits at the boundary between domestic and dating violence; this archive follows Clery's inclusion of former spouses and cohabitants under domestic violence"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Raja Fayad Identified As Professor Killed In University Of South Carolina Shooting (HuffPost)",
      "url": "https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/raja-fayad-professor-university-south-carolina-shooting_n_6632640.html",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Coroner: Shooter in murder of Dr. Fayad was his ex-wife (WACH)",
      "url": "https://wach.com/news/local/coroner-shooter-in-murder-of-dr-fayad-was-his-ex-wife",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Coroner: Ex-wife killed USC professor, herself; pair in long-term relationship (WIS-TV)",
      "url": "https://www.wistv.com/story/28037026/sled-two-in-usc-murder-suicide-were-in-long-term-relationship/",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "University of South Carolina lifts active shooter alert at Thomas Cooper Library (WLTX)",
      "url": "https://www.wltx.com/article/news/local/usc-issues-alert-for-report-of-active-shooter-near-thomas-cooper-library/101-d7a5c7f8-bac5-4af4-bf72-6e98ce937a16",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "USC President Harris Pastides calls for domestic violence prevention in wake of shooting (Cola Daily)",
      "url": "https://coladaily.com/2015/02/07/usc-president-harris-pastides-calls-for-domestic-violence-prevention-in-wake-of-shooting",
      "type": "official-social"
    },
    {
      "title": "UPDATE: Coroner releases name of second person in murder-suicide at USC (WRDW)",
      "url": "https://www.wrdw.com/home/headlines/Shots-fired-on-University-of-South-Carolina-campus--290947741.html",
      "type": "local-media"
    },
    {
      "title": "Update: Ex-wife kills professor in University of SC murder-suicide (Post and Courier)",
      "url": "https://www.postandcourier.com/aikenstandard/news/update-ex-wife-kills-professor-in-university-of-sc-murder-suicide/article_3e008ef7-627d-51b7-a80b-3386700aabd8.html",
      "type": "local-media"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "high",
  "tags": [
    "domestic-violence",
    "intimate-partner-violence",
    "murder-suicide",
    "on-campus",
    "south-carolina",
    "columbia",
    "faculty",
    "active-shooter-alert"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}